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💡 Nothing is ever lost
The same carbon, nitrogen and water atoms have cycled through rocks, air, oceans and living bodies for billions of years — endlessly recycled between the living and the non-living world.
What is a biogeochemical cycle?
Biogeochemical Cycle
The cyclic movement of matter between the living and non-living parts of the Earth. Recycles carbon, nitrogen, oxygen
- Living organisms constantly exchange matter and energy with the air, water, soil and rocks around them.
- The cyclic movement of matter between the non-living (abiotic) and living (biotic) components is called a biogeochemical cycle .
- These cycles keep essential nutrients — carbon, nitrogen, oxygen — recycled and available to support life, and help ecosystems recover from disturbances.
NCERT Question 1 — Choose the most appropriate option
Choose the most appropriate option to describe the role of biogeochemical cycles in an ecosystem. (i) To provide food directly to all organisms. (ii) To recycle essential nutrients between biotic and abiotic components. (iii) To create new elements for use by living things. (iv) To remove pollutants and toxins from the organism.
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✅ Test Yourself
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Name the four biogeochemical cycles studied in this chapter.
Show answer
The water cycle, the carbon cycle, the nitrogen cycle and the oxygen cycle. -
Which bacteria convert ammonia into nitrite?
Show answer
Nitrifying bacteria like Nitrosomonas . Nitrobacter then convert the nitrite into nitrate. -
In the slow carbon cycle, what do buried plants and animals become?
Show answer
Over millions of years they are converted into fossil fuels — coal, oil and gas.
